Formula 1 is about to enter a new era in 2026, and as Mario Isola tells us, the new regulations will also affect the development of Pirelli tires.
The Italian tire manufacturer will face several challenges, from the inability to test with the next generation of cars to improving product sustainability.
Interview with Mario Isola
In 2026, we will have active aerodynamics, which will change the loads on the tires. How will this affect the new product? How do you approach tire development without being able to test on “real” cars?
This is a scenario we are already familiar with from past experience. We know that when there are major regulation changes, we can use mule cars that allow us to test the new product, but not under the ideal representative conditions we would like.
So how do we work? We work a lot with virtual models and the simulator. There, it’s clear that you can observe things that are harder to see on track with modified cars.
We will try, as always, to place ourselves in the most critical conditions for the tires to test them in those situations. We won’t have active aerodynamics, so this variation in aerodynamic load between the straight and the corners won’t be visible.
In terms of speed, we know that in 2026 the top speeds on the straights are expected to be higher than the current ones. What we can do from an integrity standpoint is to test our tires, which we regularly do, at higher speeds than we anticipate.
We have indoor test machines in Milan that reach 450 km/h, so we should be covered. Therefore, we can certainly push further with defining the conditions for integrity.
In terms of performance, degradation, and compound functioning, not having fully representative cars of what will happen is a limitation, but we know how to work with that.
The debut of 18-inch tires is, in my opinion, a good example to say that despite a lot of work being done virtually, the product we homologated worked well from the start, and we want to replicate that situation for 2026. It’s a technical challenge, not easy, but that’s how we will approach it.
As we know, the Power Units will also change. There will be more regeneration and more electric boost. What do you expect in terms of tire stress? Maybe even thermally, considering that the rear will dissipate less energy from the braking system, and therefore less heat will be transferred to the tire. Will this be a simplification or a complication for you?
Simplification in F1 is difficult. Let’s say that we’ve already experienced this somewhat in 2014 when we switched from thermal engines to hybrid power units, where we know there is a different torque and, consequently, a different stress on the tires.
At the time, one of our concerns was tire slippage on the rim, because with such a high torque transmitted from the rim to the tire, there was a risk of slippage. If they move, they vibrate, and you lose performance. There are a whole series of side effects that aren’t good.
Fortunately, this problem didn’t occur. We worked on the bead, and there is a perfect match between the rim and the bead, and everything went well. So, certainly, there is greater torque, and this is important for the rear tires because we often see overheating at the rear.
On the brake side, I see it as less critical because today the brake is quite far from the rim. With the 13-inch tires, the brake hub was almost in contact with the rim. This allowed the teams to work a lot on heat transfer from the brake to the rim and thus define the internal air temperature, cooling or heating depending on the needs.
With the 18-inch tires, the brake is further from the rim. The heat transfer is more limited, and the rims are standardized. This has helped avoid particularly exotic developments.
With the new 2026 Power Units, there will undoubtedly be changes, but we are keeping the 18-inch tires. The rims remain more or less the same size, so I don’t expect significant issues from this perspective.
These are all aspects we discuss with the teams so that if they have any doubts or information that might help us design the 2026 product better, our door is always open to talk, discuss, and evaluate together the famous “unexpected consequences” that could cause a problem and force us to react. Anything we can do in advance helps.
Speaking of sustainability, a very important topic nowadays, how will the 2026 product align with this vision? Will emissions be further reduced?
Definitely, yes, because it will be a lighter product. That alone means using fewer materials and, of course, transporting lighter tires. Even though we already keep in mind that 95% of our transport, barring issues like the Red Sea and geopolitical situations, is by ship or through environmentally less impactful systems. Our fleet of vehicles is also entirely Euro 6 compliant. We pay close attention to all these elements.
The tires are already FSC-certified starting this season and will, of course, continue to be. We have already implemented a system this year that we call Strip & Fit. We’ve done a series of tests on wet and intermediate tires that, if not used, are dismounted, rechecked—because obviously, during mounting and dismounting, you could damage the bead—and if everything is fine, reused for another race.
This means producing fewer tires and therefore having less impact. Our factories are and will continue to be powered by renewable energy sources. We are paying more and more attention to using renewable or recycled materials.
Our project to increase sustainability and reduce environmental impact, which is a path we have taken with F1 and are following with F1, continues. We will keep paying maximum attention to every new solution, every new idea we can develop, and every detail we can implement.
Source: f1ingenerale
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